Thursday, January 03, 2008

Golfing tips for Las Vegas!

We are moving forward with our plans for a private pitch and putt, and Brad Clayton recommended that we visit Las Vegas to see some of their famous courses, especially their premier par-3 courses. Brad recommends Rick Robbins, an experienced golf course designer.

I like the high-energy of Las Vegas, great shows, the thrill of gambling, and best of all, it’s one of the few places where you can smoke a Churchillian stogie indoors without being harassed.

But there are some things that you cannot get in Vegas, and I was surprised that we had to drive to Arizona (twice) to buy our Powerball tickets.

We got in some great golf, including some of the most unique golf courses anywhere in the world:- Royal Links – An authentic reproduction of St. Andrews in the USA!

While there are many superb hotels in the strip, there are only a few dog friendly resorts that allow our dog daughter, Noel (Tip: try the Four Seasons for a dog friendly stay). On business trips we like to stay at the MGM Grand because they are very nice folks and we repay their generous donations of free rooms for our blind people and their ponies.

The MGM Grand is truly a city of entertainment, and they have a amazing variety of dine dining. We always like Craftsteak and Emeril’s but the MGM also offers a world-class trattoria, the Fiamma. They offer the very best and have fresh white truffles imported from Italy. For only $55 you can get these wonderful fungi shaved on your pasta.

Of course, there is the buzz about “Robuchon”, being touted as the best restaurant in America (and, or course, the whole world). In the traditional French style, Robuchon offers an amazing 10+ course tasting menu, and for the modest price of about $360 (expect to pay $1,200 for two, including wine and tip), you and your loved one can enjoy a 2-3 hour eating marathon. We had to check it out:

Our original plan was to stay for a week, relax and play golf, but our Las Vegas clients come first, so we had to extend our stay for two weeks. That gave us time to check-out the spectacular Furnace Creek Resort in Death Valley: